


There Is No Death, Only The Force

by Krahka



Category: Star Wars: The Old Republic
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-27
Updated: 2014-03-27
Packaged: 2018-01-17 05:48:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1376143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Krahka/pseuds/Krahka
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Talos is comforted by the ghost of his dead Jedi lover.</p>
            </blockquote>





	There Is No Death, Only The Force

“There is no death, there is the Force.”  
Of all the last words Talward could’ve possibly had, he had to chose the second most infuriating line of the Jedi Code. Talos would’ve prefered “Oh, what does this button do?” or “We couldn’t possibly lose!” or even the dreaded “I have a bad feeling about this.”  
There is no death? Of course there is death. They were archaeologists. They didn’t study stories that didn’t end with someone dying some way or another. How could he talk about how there was no death when they dealt with so many dead bodies all the time? If there was no death, he wouldn’t be sitting here alone, drinking the last of the Ithorian tea without hearing about it’s “smoky undertones and floral scents” and laughing about how pretentious he sounded?

“There is no death, there is the Force.”  
When he actually learned more of the Jedi Code, he began to appreciate it more. Talward could talk endlessly about its origins and implications, and make it all sound exciting and fresh. Talos never thought he’d ever be interested in Odan-Urr, as Jedi lore was entirely out of his area of expertise, the Sith were more his specialty, but when Talward waxed poetic about how the Jedi Code was like a brown dwarf, a great deal of material packed into a tiny package, cosmically speaking, of course, he began to admire the philosophy of the people he once considered his ancestral enemy. Talward made him believe that peace wasn’t a lie.  
He thought the only line he truly hated was “There is no emotion.” It was that line that Talward would have the most trouble with. The part about peace following it was ironic, as the four words before it cause Talward so much grief when it came to accepting Talos’s three true words. 

“There is no death, there is the Force.”  
“Don’t be so melodramatic, it’s not that bad,” Talos had said. But by then it was already too late. Lightsaber wounds were easy enough to treat, on healthy individuals, at least. But the shielding technique took too much out of Talward for him to be considered healthy. Each time he used it to save another Sith and Jedi from madness, he looked weaker and less vibrant, but still he pressed on. It broke Talos’s heart to see that vibrancy ebb away. And when those Sith reacted violently to his cure, it was a quick death, at least, compared to the slow one he was inflicting on himself as required by his boundless compassion.

“There is no death, there is the Force.”  
He could hear that whisper now, as a sudden chill caught him and made the hairs on his arms stand on end. He took a sip of hot tea to protect himself from the cold and wondered if perhaps he could adjust the ship’s environmental controls. He tried to pull himself up, but wondered what the use was, if he couldn’t save Talward, then what was the point? Being cold was the least he deserved for failing him. He stared into space for a while, trying to hold back the tears and make his feelings more rational. Every story ended in death, he knew this as well as any other archaeologist, as any other soldier.

“There is no death, there is the Force.”  
Now that was definitely not his own thoughts. He looked over his shoulder to see a blue apparition. He’d seen Force spirits before in his time with Salune, but those were all long dead Jedi, Sith and Voss, not men that he remembered feeling the breath from on his cheek.

If Talos was going to be dealing with his ghost, he needed another cup of tea. “Never understood what that bloody means. Why did your Odan-Urr even bother putting it in?”

“I’m only holding on for you, before I become one with the Force. There is no death, there is the Force. The Force will always be with you, Talos. I will always be with you, forever, until death takes you and we’ll be together again. I love you, and I’ll never leave your side.”

Before he faded away, he repeated the last words he spoke when living. “There is no death, there is the Force.”

And once again, Talos was alone. But even if he was no Sith, no Miraluka, he felt like he could feel the Force, and if not the Force, then he could feel Talward with him again.’


End file.
